Once 330 pounds, MTSU's slim tackle now an athletic asset

MURFREESBORO – Isaiah Anderson lost more than 50 pounds as a standout offensive lineman at Franklin High School.

Now the MTSU senior struggles to gain an ounce.

"Since high school, it's been tough for me to keep a lot of weight on, but I take a lot of pride in being an undersized offensive lineman," said Anderson, who has started 25 games over three seasons at right tackle.

"It's tough to play the position, and most offensive tackles are 300-plus."

Anderson entered preseason camp at 6-foot-4, 272 pounds, and he seems to drop a pound every two-a-day practice. It's a battle of metabolism most people would gladly welcome.

But for Anderson — who topped out at 330 pounds at Franklin High before an extreme diet in a second sport — he now must balance his useful athleticism with a minimum weight requirement for his position.

"When I started wrestling in high school, I lost a lot of weight in my junior and senior years. I lost a lot of fat," said Anderson, an all-state lineman and all-region wrestler at Franklin. "(Regaining weight) would make my job a lot easier, but I guess my goal weight would be about 285 or 290 as long as I could still be athletic."

MTSU's coaching staff started recruiting Anderson shortly after his extreme weight loss. Head coach Rick Stockstill said he didn't even know Anderson was ever 330 pounds, but "I think Isaiah made a lifestyle change, and I just think he is happy with his body."

The Blue Raiders have also grown to like Anderson's physique, even using his quickness in their offensive scheme.

Anderson is opposite junior left tackle Darius Johnson — a barrel-chested, power-lifting, 6-foot-3, 300-pounder that some regard as a future NFL prospect. With Anderson's speed on the right side and Johnson's power on the left, offensive line coach Geep Wade has shifted his plan to the skill sets of his returning starters at offensive tackle.

"Our two tackles are totally different, and we do things to their strengths," said Wade, a former standout lineman at Battle Ground Academy. "For instance, Isaiah is our quicker tackle, so we do things that suit him better. DJ is more of our powerful, great-punch, feet-in-the-ground type guy, so we do things that suit him better. We have stuff that we do schematically that suit those guys better."

The tackle combination of size and speed served MTSU well last season. The Blue Raiders rushed for 199.3 yards per game, the team's highest average since 2002.

And since Anderson and Johnson became permanent fixtures on the line, MTSU has allowed only 23 sacks in 25 games over the past two seasons, among the lowest totals in the nation.

Anderson is still trying to gain a few pounds in MTSU's new expanded meal plan for student-athletes, but his position coach likes his size well enough to look for others like him and Johnson.

"When I got here, they talked about (Anderson) fighting his weight. He is almost 275 now, and I'm good with that all year long with him," Wade said. "We've tuned our offense around having two different guys like (Anderson and Johnson), and we are even now recruiting guys in that same mold."

Contact Adam Sparks at 615-278-5174 or sparks@dnj.com. Follow him on Twitter @AdamSparks.